Young Actress Ellis George on BBC Proms, Acting and Y&T

Young actress Ellis George has been with Y&T for nearly ten years and is currently a member of our Y&T Rep Company. We sat down with her recently to chat about her journey and her summer performance in the BBC Proms.

When asked about her experience with Y&T she said, “Young and Talented is the reason I am still acting and at the level I’m at, yes it is about talent but it’s also about hard work.’

It can be tough choosing between your friends and rehearsal when you are growing up. You end up ‘missing parties and clubbing, or sometimes just chilling with your friends, but it’s all worth it. If I’m honest, Suzann has taught me so much over the years and helped me become a professional actress, not just a child who is really good at acting. I will always appreciate that. I wouldn’t be where I am without it.’

Ellis had the opportunity to work on Doctor Who as Courtney with Peter Capaldi in 2014 and recently performed at The National Theatre to a sold out audience in Extremism directed by Young and Talented Artistic Director Suzann McLean. Her advice to aspiring actors is this ‘be yourself because you might miss out if you change. It’s very normal for anyone to have self-doubt, but it happens, take a moment out, embrace it, understand it, and move on from it!’ Sound advice if you ask us!

This summer Ellis was cast as Emma in The Magic Flute for the BBC Proms. Emma is an ordinary 16 year old girl who along with her friend and his magic flute meet the founder of the proms, Sir Henry Wood, who takes them on an adventure of all the songs that have been played for the performance,

When asked about what it was like, Ellis shared the journey, ‘We rehearsed for a week and had an amazing two shows in one day. On the day of the performance which was the Sunday, we started around 9/9:30am with a general rehearsal, then Jess Gillam, an exceptional saxophonist came in to rehearse with the Orchestra. I started to get a little nervous before the performance, but both performances went perfect and the audience loved them. A lovely day of work in my books’

Ellis loved the experience, her favourite moment was the first dress rehearsal on stage, ‘I teared up because it was my first time hearing the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra live. It was wild, it was beautiful, and overwhelming. I was sitting on the stage trying to stay in role, and luckily my character was also wowed by the music,so I was alright to stare at the orchestra in amazement, quite funny how I must have looked like a little girl, lucky I was playing one!’

On the performance Ellis felt, ‘The orchestra was amazing, so funny and nice ,and they were just so talented. You can see what happens with hard work and determination. The directors said watching it on the monitor was just beautiful.’

It sounds like an amazing experience and everyone at Y&T is very proud of how great Ellis’s performance was and all she has achieved.

We look forward to seeing what she does next. Make sure to watch this space.